Infinity Hall

Poco was one of the first groups to pioneer Country-Rock music. The harmonies and instruments of Country mixed with Rock'n'Roll rhythms, paved the way for supergroups like the Eagles and while hits for Poco were few, their influence runs deep in both Country and Pop music. Richie Furay and Jim Messina formed Poco after Buffalo Springfield broke up in 1968 when Stephen Stills and Neil Young left the group.

Rusty Young had come from Colorado to play pedal steel guitar on the last Buffalo Springfield album. Furay loved what Rusty played on his song, Kind Woman and invited Young to join Poco. Auditions were held for the other band members and among the hopeful was Gram Parsons. He played with Poco for a few weeks but things didn’t work out and he left the band. Eventually Rusty Young suggested bringing in two of his friends from Colorado to join the band. Drummer George Grantham and bass player Randy Meisner moved to California and signed on as Poco’s rhythm section.

"Pogo" syndicated strip, instigated legal proceedings to prevent the use of the name. Poco began performing in Hollywood at clubs like The Troubadour and gained the attention of several record companies. They signed with Epic in the fall of 1968 and released their debut album Pickin’ Up The Pieces, in 1969. Randy Meisner left the band after the first album to play with Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band. A few years later, he became a founding member of the Eagles and wrote and sang lead on their hit, Take It To The Limit.

Jim Messina moved to bass to cover the spot Meisner left until Timothy B. Schmit joined the band. Following their second album Poco, in 1970, the band recorded a live album called, Deliverin' (released in 1971).

The singles, You Better Think Twice (1970), and C’mon (1971) made a brief appearance on the Pop singles chart. In the fall of 1970, Jim Messina decided to leave Poco to spend more time with his new wife and work as a staff producer for Columbia Records. He was assigned to work with a new artist named Kenny Loggins and the two worked together so well in the studio that they decided to form a band together. Loggins and Messina went on to record nine albums and several hit singles including Your Mama Don’t Dance. Singer, songwriter, guitarist.

Paul Cotton joined Poco in 1970 after leading the popular Chicago-based band, Illinois Speed Press. Cotton contributed Bad Weather and Railroad Days on the album From the Inside, produced by Steve Cropper and recorded in Memphis. Furay began to share more of the songwriting and lead vocals and Tim Schmit also sang two songs on the album. Poco recorded their next album, Good Feelin’ To Know, in Chicago and returned to Los Angeles for the making of their Crazy Eyes album. Furay left Poco in 1973 to form the attempted supergroup, the Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. Richie recorded two albums with J.D. Souther and Chris Hillman, but commercial success eluded the group. From 1973 to 1977,Poco toured and recorded as a four-piece with Cotton and Schmit sharing songwriting and lead vocals.

Rusty Young began to contribute as a writer andv ocalist on Poco’s first album for ABC, Seven (1974), with Rocky Mountain Breakdown. Over the next four years Poco released the albums, Cantamos (1974), The Very Best Of (1975), Live (1975), Head Over Heels (1975) (that produced the Top 50 Pop hit, Keep On Trying), Rose Of Cimarron (1976) and Indian Summer (1977). The title tracks of both the last two albums were Pop chart singles with Rose Of Cimarron going Top 100 (1976) and Indian Summer going Top 50 (1977).

More personnel changes came in 1977 when George Grantham moved to Nashville to play drums for Ricky Skaggs and then Steve Wariner. Timothy Schmit also made his exit from Poco to replace Meisner in the Eagles. He recorded The Long Run and Live albums with the supergroup and wrote and sang the hit, I Can’t Tell You Why.

Throughout the 90’s and first decade of 2000 Poco, led by Rusty Young, Paul Cotton and Jack Sundrud with the additon of drummer George Lawrence continued to be a recording and touring force logging in 100 shows a year. In addition to releasing a new studio CD: “Running Horse” in 2003, a live DVD: “Keeping The Legend Alive” in 2005, “Bareback At Big Sky” in 2006 and an unplugged CD: “The Wildwood Sessions” in 2007.

In 2010, a new Poco era dawned led by Rusty Young, Jack Sundrud and George Lawrence with additional musicians. The band always maintained their musical superiority and the new incarnation will continue to be musically superior with a foot in the past, present and future. As Rusty Young says, “Hang on, this could be quite a ride”.

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